Home ›

How Small Development Teams Make Everyday Life Better Using Web 2.0 Technologies

by Fred Stutzman
December 31, 2007

For the past few months, I’ve been writing about Web 2.0 innovations and their impact on social technology. In my articles, I’ve explored new protocols and tools, social and philanthropic aspects of Web 2.0, and even how Web 2.0 might change the way we elect our next president. For my final article in this series, I'm going to do something fun: to explore some useful Web 2.0 apps, with the hope of introducing you to some cool new tools you can explore.

As the title of this article suggests, I've selected these particular applications with a second objective in mind: to demonstrate how Web 2.0 technologies have changed the world of software applications, by enabling very small development teams (even as small as a single person) to develop powerful applications with wide reach that can make a difference in people's everyday lives.

This wasn't readily possible for a handful of people in the pre-Web 2.0 world. It's as though Web 2.0 has brought to developers a possibility that has long existed in fields such as popular music, where a group of regular people from a neighborhood, with no financial backing, could get together, fuse their contributions, and who could tell where it might lead? In most cases, not very far. But for the hard working, persistent, and genuinely talented few, success at some level was probably only a matter of time.

Web 2.0 applications defined

So what is a Web 2.0 app, and what makes it different from a Web 1.0 app? How does Web 2.0 enable a small group of developers with almost no budget accomplish so much? Is it design, or its use of AJAX? What about Mashups, API’s or applications that employ social network principles? Rather than spending this next 10 paragraphs outlining criteria for Web 2.0 apps, I’ll just state that I’m going to define Web 2.0 liberally – if an app or protocol or device seems to embody the essence of what Tim O’Reilly described in his famous essay on Web 2.0, we’ll include it. I’ve long thought that Web 2.0 isn’t just about the technology, but also about how well the tool answers information needs.

The web has been about easy, functional data sharing. Over the years, bandwidth has improved and computers became faster, but with these advances came complexity. Web 2.0 is, in my opinion, the web done right. I certainly hope the next iterations of Web 2.0 (Web 3.0?) will continue this trend: the web will have richer data, be easier to use, and connect us more efficiently. In addition, we'd expect new software engineering technologies to continue to enable small development teams to successfully develop significant new apps in a relatively short time.

web 2.0 logos
Web 2.0 Logos from Stabilo-boss

Finally, a little note about me: I’m a graduate student who should be working on his dissertation, and I find a little spare time to run a start-up web company, ClaimID. I’m a huge music fan, love to write, and spend too much time following new interests. Read another way, I’m someone who has a ton of information needs who stands to benefit quite a bit from the interesting new tools and developments of Web 2.0, and I'm also a participant, through ClaimID, in the development of the new Web. Hopefully I can share some of my experience with Web 2.0 with you.

First things first: startup tabs

If I actually had to list the tools I used most often, they would be my startup tabs. Whenever I fire up my browser, I load some pages that I check very often. It’s likely that you use a number of them already (or I’ve written about them earlier), so we won’t spend too much time on them. However, in the interest of disclosure, they are Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Del.icio.us and Flickr. With these tabs I’m able to communicate with my friends, keep track of what they’re doing, share all sorts of media, and generally stay aware of what is going on in my little corner of the web.

You might immediately say: "but these are all big corporation apps!" Yes, that is the fact today; but they certainly didn't start that way. Facebook was the creation of a single individual, Mark Zuckerberg, and was initially applicable and available to only Harvard students (the university Mark attended). Facebook was launched on February 4, 2004. Membership is expected to surpass 60 Million by the end of 2007. Not bad for an idea invented and put into action by a single individual!

But Facebook isn't alone in this. Gmail was originally an internal Google application, the result of a project begun by Paul Buchheit that was used for years by Google employees before it became publicly available. Del.icio.us was founded by a single individual (Joshua Schachter); Flickr was developed by a small Canadian software firm (Ludicorp); and Twitter was developed over a few months by a small team from the Obvious Coporation.

How did they accomplish so much so quickly?

How is it possible for a single individual or a small team to create something that becomes as big and popular as these applications have become? First, new technologies such as AJAX and Ruby on Rails enable developers to put their ideas into action much more quickly than was ever possible in the past. Second, the cost of starting a Web site has dropped significantly, which means an individual or small company can easily get a new application out there and available to the public. But perhaps the most import factor in the success of these applications is what might be called the "network effect."

One of the most interesting aspects of Web 2.0 is that much of an application’s value is derived from its network. With Web 2.0 tools it is important that the quality of the experience derives from who you are using these tools with: if your friends have a great photo-sharing site that they’ve established themselves on, it's likely that that will be a very fun place for you. Take this as my little grain of salt before you delve into my recommendations – they’re just my own personal recommendations, and you might find other sites that better address your specific needs. Everyone's unique!

One Identity For All

Speaking of unique, if you’re going to be signing up to use new websites, trying out my suggestions, then you’re going to end up with a bunch of new usernames and passwords. This is, of course, a colossal bummer on many levels. First, creating a new identity is tiresome; second, sometimes you can’t get the username you want; third, it is always annoying to have to remember a new password. OpenID, originally developed by Brad Fitzpatrick of LiveJournal, solves this problem.

OpenID logo
OpenID logo

In a previous article, I wrote at length about OpenID and its value for Web 2.0. That article covers the technical aspects of the protocol, but today I’d just like to touch on what makes it really useful: its simplicity. An OpenID is a URL, like http://yourblog.com. Using this URL, you can log into third-party websites without the creation of a new password or username. The best news is that you can get an OpenID for free, from any of the providers listed at http://openid.net/get. And if you’ve got an AOL or AIM screen name, you’ve already got an OpenID – http://openid.aol.com/screenname would be your OpenID. Of course, there are many providers to choose from, so you can decide which one is the best fit for your needs. Of course, I must disclose that I run an OpenID site, but I promise that I’d recommend OpenID even if I wasn't personally involved. It really is that useful.

Getting some things done

Now that you’ve solved your internet identity problems, you’ll need to get some work done. As you’ve likely seen, many in the Web 2.0 world have adopted the “Getting Things Done" (GTD) methodology for managing productivity. Seizing on this interest, a number of websites have started offering tools for managing one’s to-do list online. A favorite among my friends is Remember the Milk, a tool that makes simple the task-management process.

remember the milk logo
Remember the Milk logo

RememberTheMilk.com was developed by a team of two: designer Emily Boyd and software engineer Omar Kilani. In an interview, Emily cited the benefits of having such a small team:

We can develop rapidly without meetings getting in the way — while sometimes we think it would be helpful to have more people working on RTM, we think we manage pretty well as a team of two.

Task managers like Remember the Milk will allow for multiple integration, allowing you to integrate your task list with your calendar and email applications, as well as with map and location data for better planning. Also interesting is the fact one can manage and access their lists from multiple applications and devices: your mobile phone or IM, Twitter, or even Skype. If, like me, you’re a die-hard paper to-do list maker, you might want to explore these tools; their power and ease of use makes them a very useful alternative to the ubiquitous dog-eared lists you carry.

Ta-da Lists logo
Ta-da Lists logo

While my friends like Remember the Milk, there are a number of other alternatives in the to-do list space. One you may have heard of is Ta-da List by the 37 Signals. Known for producing elegant, usable software, Ta-da List is extremely simple, but its focus on usability and ease of sharing has made it quite popular. 37 Signals was originally founded in 1999 by three people.

Find something to listen to when you're getting things done

I’m a big music fan, and I really enjoy discovering new music. Thinking back to the days where I used to swap mix tapes or dub tapes at the radio station, we’ve come a long way. Of course, the core problem remains – how do you find out about good new music? Two services, Last.fm and Pandora, have stepped in to solve this problem with social music recommender services.

Last.fm was founded by four people in 2002, based largely on a computer science project named Audioscrobbler, invented by Richard Jones. On May 30, 2007, Last.fm was acquired by CBS Interactive for 140 Million British Pounds (US $280 Million)!

last.fm logo
last.fm logo

The concept of a social music recommender is pretty cool; you install a little plugin that keeps track of what music you listen to (and how much you like that music), and compares that to a large database of other users with similar patterns. The algorithm looks for new listening opportunities for you; if lots of people who listen to bands X and Y listen to band Z, and you listen to bands X and Y but not Z, it will recommend band Z to you. Of course, it doesn’t end at recommendations. Individuals create profiles on the sites, allowing you to browse one’s listening history. If you find a friend in the site whose taste you admire, you can find lots of new bands from your friend.

pandora logo
Pandora logo

Pandora was founded by Tim Westergren. In an interview, Tim had this advice for developers who might want to create a start-up company:

... most importantly, you have to have a strong belief in your idea. I believed Pandora to be an important solution to a problem as a musician.

Pandora and Last.fm are different in a number of ways, attracting somewhat of a different audience. While Pandora actually samples music to find tonal and rhythmic similarities -- i.e. recommending you music whose sound you would enjoy -- Last.fm focuses on similarities between listening patterns and taste profiles. Both of the sites provide good recommendations; if you’re ever in need of some good new tunes, I recommend them.

Solving information problems with Web 2.0

To close out this article, I’d like to use wine to point out the power of social information sharing. From an information management perspective, wine is a classic challenge. There are tens or hundreds of thousands of wineries all over the world, ranging from small mom-n-pop operations to Mondavi-sized, producing a number of varietals each year. Of course, each year the wine’s quality changes, leading to millions upon millions of unique choices when it comes to buying wine. This means that each time you visit your local wine store, with the exception of a few low- and high-end brands, there’s likely a lot of unknown bottles staring at you in that medium price range.

Wine Log logo
Wine Log logo

To wine lovers, this is the thrill of the chase: finding wine that tastes like it came from a 100 dollar bottle at a 20 dollar price tag. In the past, if you wanted to do this, you had to subscribe to expensive magazines and exhaust a lot of mental effort. Now, with social wine sites, one can gain access to user-generated reviews of wine, find taste partners, and share recommendations on those exceptional bottles hiding in plain sight. The web levels the hierarchies of information, allowing us all access to information to make better decisions about our wine purchases.

cork'd logo
cork'd logo

There are a number of sites out there for you to experiment with: I’d recommend Winelog.net (developed by Jason Coleman, who started working on the project soon after he graduated from Haverford College in 2004), Snooth.com (founded by Philip James in 2006), and Corkd.com, the wine site run by internet wine personality Gary Vaynerchuk. All of these sites were developed and are kept operational by small development teams.

In my opinion, these sites all have some work to do before they truly compete with some of the established wine information portals (they need better tailoring of their social aspects to the domain). However, they make a strong case for people-powered information sharing, showing that something as complex as wine can benefit from the crowd.

Conclusion: lessons learned

In this article, I wanted to highlight some of the great information tools and methodologies Web 2.0 provides us. With OpenID, I wanted to show you the value of new protocols, and how they will make the web better for us for years to come. With the to-do lists example, I wanted to show you the power of simplicity, and how simple applications can truly make our lives better. And with the music and wine examples, I wanted to show you the power of the crowd, not just in finding better recommendations, but establishing new ways to find and share information about complex topics. To me, Web 2.0 is about fun, efficiency, and ease of use – giving you better tools and information to accomplish your goals. We see all of these factors embodied in the tools I’ve discussed today.

In addition, in this article I focused on Web 2.0 applications that were originally designed and developed by a single individual, or by a very small development team, to illustrate to software engineers what's possible if you have a good idea and persistence to work diligently on developing your idea into publicly available Web 2.0 application. If your idea is right, Web 2.0 network effects may turn your site into the next Last.fm or Flickr. Or, you may have an idea for infrastructure, like OpenID, that may become a future Web standard. Your imagination really is the only limit in the Web 2.0 world!

References

» Submitted by Developer Network on January 7, 2008 - 3:23pm.